Blog Post: The importance of white space in your résumé

I liken this to someone hanging pictures on a wall in their home. If they put one picture next to the other, with no matting (that’s the colored cardboard surrounding the watercolor, print, photo, or drawing inside the frame), and no frames, and the pictures are stacked floor to ceiling, yes, I guarantee the individual can squeeze a lot more pictures on that wall than most people.

This is what some people do with their résumés. But it is a major mistake.

What you do, when you crowd all that information in, is confuse the hiring manager about what is important. The solution for many people at that point is to underscore words, underline, or box what they most want the hiring manager to notice.

Many companies today use digital scanners to perform key word searches so a human being does not have to do the initial résumé sort. A high enough score of the relevant words merits further review by a person. Some of the digital/electronic scanners are not sophisticated enough to deal with underscores, underlines, and boxes, since what they are looking for is text, not letters with another blob of ink (the underline) below them. Often, what you thought was important enough to box, underline, or underscore does not even register. Ouch! You have just defeated your intention.

You do have tools to maximize your communication with both digital and human résumé reviewers. CAPITALIZATION, Bold, and italics can be used for categories of information since these do not deform your basic characters.

The other important tool is WHITE SPACE. This is the wall between your pictures, the framing which sets it off as being important. It is the "resting space" for the reader, which gives him/her the time to absorb your message.

Good use of white space increases reader understanding. It may be indenting portions of your résumé (think of the form of a literary outline). It can be putting a blank line between jobs.

When I prepare résumés. I use blank lines as narrow as 2 points to control reader pace and ensure a pleasing appearance. Doing this takes incredible attention to detail, but can make all the difference in how your résumé looks.

Think about how you want your résumé to look, and how you can use white space to increase reader understanding. Then, be consistent in how you use that white space. Consistency (particularly with the use of white space) within you résumé is what makes it look professional.